Books I Have Read More Than Once (5)

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

This is the story of the Battle of Gettysburg told from the viewpoints of Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet and some of the other men who fought there.

Stephen Crane once said that he wrote The Red Badge Of Courage because reading the cold history was not enough; he wanted to know what it was like to be there, what the weather was like, what men's faces looked like. In order to live it he had to write it. This book was written for much the same reason
-Michael Shaara

The cover of this copy of the book has a quote from General H. Norman Schwarzkopf:"The best and most realistic historical novel about war I have ever read." Well, I could not say if it is or is not the most realistic historical novel about war but I can say it is one of the most realistic historical novels I've ever read. Before reading this novel I read a few non-fiction books about the Battle of Gettysburg so I understood why this battle is considered the turning point of the American Civil War. It wasn't until after I read this book that I understood why one person has called that battle "America's Armageddon."